Centralia George Floyd Protest: ‘I’m Here Because I Feel Like I’m Protesting For My Life’

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“End police brutality,” “We stand for all oppressed people!,” and “Only white people can cure racism” were just a few of the dozens of signs on display at George Washington Park in Centralia Sunday as about 40 people protested the killing of George Floyd by police on May 25 in Minnesota.

It was a fitting location as George Washington, the founder of what is now Centralia, was the son of an African American slave. Protestors gathered around the bronze statue of Washington and his wife, Mary Jane, which sits near the sidewalk on North Pearl Street. 

Elise Charles, 32, of Centralia, was one of those standing near the statue with a “Black Lives Matter” sign. 

“I’m here because I feel like I’m protesting for my life,” Charles said. “I think about all the people who wrongfully died at the hands of police. I can’t be naive to think it can’t happen to me.”

Charles moved to Centralia from Trinidad and Tobago nine years ago and has had long talks with friends and family about police violence against African Americans. This was her chance to be heard by a larger audience.

“This weekend I found myself crying about it, but I wasn’t doing anything about it,” Charles said. “Crying about it and talking about it doesn’t really do much. It makes me feel bad when you keep that inside and you don’t talk about it and you don’t express it.”

Sunday was the sixth day of outrage since George Floyd died while in police custody in Minneapolis on Monday. A white officer held his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes as he struggled to breathe. The officer was fired and has since been charged with third-degree murder.

At least 75 cities nationwide have seen protests in the past few days, including at least two dozen that have imposed curfews. Seattle is on day two of a curfew as Gov. Jay Inslee activated the National Guard Saturday night when vandalism and destruction ramped up. On Sunday morning, business owners and volunteers began cleaning up the damage left behind.

Darrin Rice, 21, of Centralia, was at George Washington Park Sunday to show support for his fellow African Americans.



“I’m here because I heard about the cops killing black people,” Rice said. “The one protest we should have had a long time ago. (The officer) should have been prosecuted a long time ago. Now everyone’s deciding to do something about it. Cops have always been f---ing with black people, so I’m here now.”

Getting killed by police is a leading cause of death by young black men, according to a study (www.pnas.org/content/116/34/16793) by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. One in every 1,000 black men and boys can expect to be killed by police. That makes them 2.5 times more likely to be killed in an encounter with police than white men and boys.

For Charles, it’s something that’s needed to be addressed for a long time.

“It’s a big problem for black people everywhere in America,” Charles said. “That’s why I’m here; to let people know it’s not OK. It’s not right. We just want to feel safe when police are around, when they stop us. I just want to feel safe”

Protestors, black and white, men, women and children, came out in support of the movement. It was encouraging to see people of all color coming together in solidarity, Charles said.

“I didn’t realize we had so much support,” Charles said. “Especially in Centralia, it can feel like the situation is non-existent, like it’s nowhere around. None of the children talk about it. It makes it feel like what we see is not real, like it doesn’t happen. So I’m glad we’re out here today.”

The Centralia protest was organized by Edward Riley and Roberta Ziegler through an event titled “Peaceful Protest Against Racial Injustice” on Facebook

“There aren't a lot of black people in this community, so us white folks need to show our support and solidarity with them,” they posted in the event description. “It is important to protest at the statue of a black man for whom our city would not exist without his land donation. We believe that it is important  to grieve publicly and peacefully over the racial inequality that is present in our country.”